Using my own, custom developed system, I monitor these key players, in all of the research areas, consuming blog posts, tweets, code commits, and much more, trying to establish a deep awareness in each of these fundamental layers of the API economy. The goal of my monitoring is to help me in producing blog posts (short form), and white papers (long form), while generating valuable analysis for my research, and increasing my own understanding and awareness of the API economy.

I have already produced white papers for API 101, History of APIs, API Deployment, and API Management, and I just now finished one for API Design. As with all of my research projects, and the resulting white papers, they are a work in progress, and meant to be a living snapshot of my research. I generate this white paper using the same tools I publish my API design research to Github. My CMS lets me format the static content, while also pulling dynamic content from my tracking system(s), and rolls it up into single PDF white paper, you can take with you and learn about the world of API design--it isn't perfect, but provides a good summary of my research.

The other white papers I've produced are all due for an update, but first I need to focus on producing the first version white paper for API discovery, and integration, both areas that are extremely relevant, fast moving layers of the API economy. Looking at the date on my other white papers, June 2013, it seems that summer is a good time to hibernate and produce these new, long form snapshots of my ongoing research into the API economy.